Alternate headline: Democrats meddle in 2024 GOP primary with FBI raid
The collective media freakout over the FBI raid of Mar-A-Lago on Monday seems to think it will only help Trump ultimately, not really hurt much. That all depends, of course, on the substance of the raid. If it’s over documents of some kind, many will shrug and even Trump foes would agree that invading his personal residence was overboard and intentionally provocative.
Beyond the shrug, the pro-Trump backlash could ensue meaning that the DOJ just raised his 2024 profile even further.
A roundup of media sources seems to think that unless the FBI finds something so incredibly damning that even the MAGA faithful would recoil, Attorney General Merrick Garland might have just guaranteed Trump is the 2024 Republican nominee:
Media commentators ranging from Donald Trump’s strongest foes to most fervent allies appeared in agreement on one thing Monday: the FBI raid of his Mar-a-Lago home may have handed him the 2024 Republican nomination.
CNN commentator Alyssa Farah Griffin, who served as Trump’s White House communications director but is now one of his fiercest critics, fretted on “New Day” that an empty-handed raid could send Trump to the White House.
“This, I’m hoping, goes beyond simply not complying with some archiving laws, or [the Department of Justice] just handed Donald Trump the Republican [nomination] and potentially the presidency,” she said. “If it’s seen as some sort of massive overreach and not something incredibly serious, this is a very good day for Donald Trump.”
Joe Walsh, the ex-GOP congressman who like Farah Griffin evolved from a passionate Trump fan to one of his sharpest media foes, also expressed concern the search of the former president’s home may rally his supporters behind the flag.
“Both things are true: 1. The Justice Department’s job is to pursue justice & uphold the rule of law. And they should NEVER let politics get in the way of that. Yesterday, they did their job. 2. What happened yesterday handed the 2024 GOP nomination to Donald Trump,” he tweeted.
If history is our guide, persecuting Trump usually ends in Trump getting politically stronger, at least among his base. Two failed impeachments later and he’s the presumed front-runner for the 2024 GOP nomination. What more needs to be said?
Even the January 6th committee running a highly-partisan show trial of sorts hasn’t done much other than solidifying the Trump haters and the Trump lovers.
Can a politicized Biden Justice Department, sending FBI agents to seize documents from Trump’s private residence, really turn the tables against the former president things even if they find an illegally held classified document?
Not likely, says CNN’s Dana Bash:
CNN’s Dana Bash said Trump had greatly advanced his short-term political goal of capturing the nomination, saying his language in the statement about the raid was “kind of genius.”
“It totally triggers and animates the people not only who like him, but there was concern, according to people around Trump, that he had, that he was losing some mojo. He was having some trouble raising money. And this, he believes, would turn it around,” she said.
Democrats continually scoff at some kind of “deep state” within the federal government fighting Trump at every turn. Then, something like this happens and that claim is reinforced among those who believe it. Democrats haven’t learned this lesson yet that using the government to harass and bring down Trump will not work and only plays directly into his narrative. Then again, with Joe Biden as the head of the party, it’s not exactly a Mensa meeting in the West Wing.
Andrew Yang, former 2020 Democratic presidential candidate-turned-independent, nails the landing of what this ordeal will lead to even among many who are not Trump fans:
I’m no Trump fan. I want him as far away from the White House as possible. But a fundamental part of his appeal has been that it’s him against a corrupt government establishment. This raid strengthens that case for millions of Americans who will see this as unjust persecution.
— Andrew Yang????? (@AndrewYang) August 9, 2022
The corrupt government establishment will not relent, it seems, and Trump’s campaign draw of “draining the swamp” will now have a new life raft.
Did Democrats hand Trump the 2024 GOP nomination with this raid? Only time will tell but it surely will have sped the process up and made his announcement sooner rather than later all that more likely.
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